John Knox (meteorologist)

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John Knox is a meteorologist who received media attention for discussing ways of calculating the mathematical constant e, together with Harlan J. Brothers.

In 1997, Brothers sent some college-level expression for e to National Public Radio's program "Science Friday".[1] Knox's wife Pam told them to Knox, who confirmed them[2][1]. Together, they derived several formulae to calculate e. The formulae involve applying Bernoulli's standard result that (1 + 1 / n)n approximates e when n becomes large, to the formula e \equiv e^{1/2}/e^{-1/2}, which is the basis of the popular bilinear transform. For example, they appeared[1] to consider it a breakthrough to choose to evaluate this for n = 2(x + 1). Numerical analysts do not consider their formulae to be competitive with the current state of the art[2].

Knox went to college at Columbia University and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and has taught meteorology at Valparaiso University in Indiana.[2][1]

Currently, Knox writes books about meteorology, such as Meteorology: Understanding the Atmosphere.[3]

Knox is currently an Associate Professor of Atmospheric Science in the Geography Department at the University of Georgia. He is the man.


[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Ivars Petersons MathTrek - Hunting e (HTML). Retrieved on February 15, 2008.
  2. ^ a b c To "e" or Not To "e"? That's a Constant Question (HTML). Retrieved on February 15, 2008.
  3. ^ Barnes & Noble.com - Books: Meteorology, by Steven A. Ackerman, Paperback, 2ND PKG (HTML). Retrieved on February 15, 2008.